special needs awareness

Research

The term, special needs awareness, teaches people to keep an open mind and assist for those who have mental issues. Those who were born or diagnosed with disabilities will face such extreme challenges as they grow up. The Disability Awareness Guide (year unknown) firmly states it is important for people to understand disabilities. Many people around the world have been diagnosed with various disabilities as they mature. Befriending somebody with disabilities is a challenging step because the disabled would easily lose focus and do "crazy" behaviors alone. Some may consider the disabled as "lunatics", but others will still try their best to give the disabled a warm social atmosphere. Pastor Keith (2012) supports this awareness by mentioning that we are also aware to help children to have a better understanding to include a special needs person to their social circle. Sesame Street, one of the oldest running shows, also promotes this awareness. They created a new muppet character named Julia to "alert" special needs children that they are not alone. Mitovich (2017) stated that Stacy Gordon, one of the veteran puppeteers, wanted to bring Julia to life as a way to support special needs community.


Figure 1: Elmo (normal) interacting with Julia (autistic) in friendly manner. (Mitovich 2017)

Personal Experience

I have been diagnosed with mild autism during childhood, so I can openly admit that I have some interaction issues with non-autistic peers. I do believe that every individual with special needs deserve a chance to join in the social circle.There are times we often either misunderstand the special needs person's intentions or we simply get very impatient when interacting with a disabled peer. I do volunteer work with special needs children on every 2nd and 4th Sundays at church and learned many kids tend to have severe communicating skills. This problem was also part of my social issue since I have a bad habit of talking to myself as a kid. Despite the bad habit I still have inside me, I managed to be normal and blend in with other people without having to perform any abnormal behaviors (even though it is the hardest thing to do, especially I'm already a young adult).

What Others Think

Jared (last name unknown)

Melody (last name?)

Barbi Lona

Jill Alonzo: "1) Yes I definitely support the special needs community. We have so much to learn from each other. I think with each "disability" comes a special ability as well that the entire community can benefit from. 2) I think awareness has grown within the past couple of decades. However, I still think more progress can be made. Especially in the sense of seeing individuals with special needs as "unique", not necessarily "disabled or less fortunate". I think it's important to be careful about the words we use to describe individuals with different needs"

Faith Romasco

Henry Alonzo: "To answer the first question I do support the special needs community. My company's vice president has a child with special needs and we make accommodations to be a mother and a professional at the same time. I believe that making accommodations with special needs and their families is vital to our society. My company has partnered with the love, walk n' roll for a few years now. We believe special needs awareness is greatly needed. Many people still do not understand adults with special needs and I have interacted with a few in the entertainment industry and I believe I have tried my best to make them feel welcome and valued. There are many contributions of people that may have special needs that benefit our entire society. It is my personal goal and my company's goal to always make room for those that are misunderstood, whether it's special needs, sexual orientation or religious views."

Sarah Edgbert

Joel Bundy

References:

1) Mitovich, Matt Webb. "Sesame Street Sneak Peeks: Meet Julia, a Muppet Character with Autism." TV Line. 20 Mar. 2017. Web 23 Apr. 2017. <http://tvline.com/2017/03/20/sesame-street-julia-new-muppet-autism/>

2) Keith, Julie. "Special Needs Sibs." juliekeithsreflections. 12 Jan. 2012. Web 23 Apr. 2017. <https://juliekeithsreflections.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/special-needs-sibs/>

3) Kansas State Department of Education. "Disability Awareness Guide." Kansas State Department of Education. Date unspecified. Web 23 Apr. 2017. <http://www.ksde.org/Portals/0/SES/pubs/DisabilityAwarenessGuide.pdf>